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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/07/2000 Adjourned Meeting • 495 CITY OF YAKIMA, WASHINGTON ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL NOVEMBER 7, 2000 - 7:30 A.M. POLICE STATION /LEGAL CENTER Present: Mayor Mary Place, presiding; Council Members Clarence Barnett, Henry Beauchamp, Lynn Buchanan, Larry Mattson, John Puccinelli and Bernard Sims • Staff: Dick Zais, City Manager; Glenn Rice, Assistant City Manager; Rita Anson, Director of Finance and Budget; Chris Waarvick, Director of Public Works; Doug Mayo, Wastewater Manager; Scott Stockton, Assistant Wastewater . Manager; Pete Hobbs, Environmental Analyst; and Karen Roberts, City Clerk Also: Tony Krutsch and John Koch, consultants from HDR Engineering, Inc. REPORT ON MANDATED WASTEWATER FACILITIES PLAN Mayor Place called the meeting to order at 7:30 a.m. • Doug Mayo Presents Wastewater Facilities Plan to Council Doug Mayo presented the mandated draft 2000 Wastewater Facilities Plan consisting of two four -inch binders to the Council. The Plan was developed to assess the mandated regulatory, safety, and replacement needs to meet the growth of the Yakima region for the next twenty years • The Plan is required in order to be eligible for state and federal funding • The Plan was segregated into three segments of planning years; 0 -6, 7 -12, and 13 -20. • Over 80% of the total six -year program is mandated to be done • Discussion about convenants to connect to the sewer when available A discussion ensued regarding the enforcement responsibility of covenants made by new developments within the County to connect to the sewer system when the extension of sewer lines made the connection possible. Council Member Buchanan commented that as long as the septic tank and drainfield are functioning, the homeowner is not required to connect to the sewer. Chris Waarvick advised that these covenants, including the connection - when - available requirement, were the result of discussions between the Department of Ecology and the County to permit septic tanks in those areas not yet served by the sewer system. He suggested that if the covenants are not working to ensure connection to the sewer system, perhaps the Department of Ecology should review the regulatory order that the Health Department is working under. 496 NOVEMBER 7, 2000 — ADJOURNED MEETING WASTEWATER FACILITIES PLAN • Tony Krutsch summarizes the Plan Tony Krutsch said they are here to present the Plan and to receive Council's comments. • The plan is set up under two categories: mandated and growth - related • The mandated improvements are to comply with Federal regulations, the Clean Water Act, state law, and the City's four -party agreement, plus the plant has to remain operational • The City has to provide for growth in the urban area boundary and be able to provide sewer service to that area • Projected $12.2 million worth of improvements to the treatment facility mandated in the first six years of the Plan • Projected $7.5 million to extend new interceptor and trunk sewers • Projected $3.8 is growth related • Table 1 -12 on page 24 is a chart listing the projected six -year improvements Mr. Krutsch provided additional information about the projects to improve the facility and sewer service. In the future, two lagoons may be abandoned in favor of using a centrifuge. One lagoon may be kept for the emergency dumping of a sour digester. The biosolids building is included in the 7 -13 year plan to go to complete containment. A discussion regarding the biosolids disposal program ensued, as well as the acceptance of industrial septage. Rick Frye, Department of Ecology (DOE), reported that if the City accepts septage, then DOE could regulate it. • Questions asked by Council Mayor Place asked about the recommendation to redefine domestic wastewater strength. Mr. Mayo said that the recommendation is to lower the threshold for strong waste. If that happens, there are businesses that are discharging waste between the 200 and 260 level that will be affected if the threshold is lowered below the current 300 ppm for BOD. The businesses will pay more for the strong waste discharged into the sewer system. City Manager Zais said a cost of service study would be prepared focusing on the improvements in the first six years. It will be a multi- faceted approach to deal with funding. It is important to note that most of these mandated rules have been around for decades and would not be covered under the new mandate law for funding. We will look for grants and loans, after that, utility rates for all our customers will have to bear the responsibility to pay for the debts incurred for these improvements. Council members noted that the public is going to have to be informed about these mandated improvements and the impact to their rates. Mayor Place stated there are some policy issues in the document that should be more clearly identified for Council, as well as what staff is recommending, before we get into the cost of service study. Mr. Mayo acknowledged there are policy issues in the document about staffing levels and the level of service provided to the citizens. Chris Waarvick mentioned another policy issue is whether Council will want to continue to fund the storm water compliance issues through the Street and Wastewater budgets, or as a separate utility (Enterprise) fund. 2 497 NOVEMBER 7, 2000 — ADJOURNED MEETING WASTEWATER FACILITIES PLAN Council Member•Barnett requested staff to clarify what happened at a public meeting related to storm water management. He asked staff to check the record to verify what was actually voted on since plan 3a became 4a and 3a was a lot different than 4a. Mr. Waarvick agreed to do that. Mr' Barnett stated he thought the ten cities were given the responsibility of writing the Eastern Washington Manual and the policy committee was supposed to come up with regulations for Eastern Washington. If it's already . done, let's abolish that group. Mr. Krutsch responded that if the Eastern Washington Committee is re- writing this manual, over 80% is already written because we can't change state law, therefore, it could not be that greatly different from the Western Washington manual with the big exception of how dry wells are addressed. Council Member Mattson suggested that the City (Doug or Chris) write a letter to the County Commissioners to clarify when the County will require a physical connection to the sewer system. Mr. Rice said if the City wants the County to enforce connections, then don't forget there are houses in the city limits in the same circumstances. Mr. Waarvick commented that DOE removed the septic tank authority from the Health District and took it upon themselves, with the caveat that when sewer is available the citizen would hook up. If it will not happen, he thinks DOE should respond to the City first. Doug Mayo interjected that the City code used to have a provision to charge city residents a stand -by rate if the line was available and they did not connect; however, we have never billed this. • Directions given by the Council City Manager Zais said staff would invite further comments and questions from the Council and incorporate, and respond to, those questions to finalize this document. The next step is to prepare for a public hearing and public outreach and determine how far to take that out to neighborhood groups since we don't have the cost of service study. Mayor Place said we need some information about what DOE is currently doing and what the Health Department, County and City are doing with regard to sewer connections. Council Puccinelli suggested that the public be educated about not using garbage disposals by sending information with their utility bill. Council Member Sims requested additional information about the septic tank situation. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 9:15 a.m. READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE BYE/ _ , 4 /.� 16 o -- COUX IL MEMBER DA • 'i'7�el CO CIL MEM R DATE ATTEST: CITY CLERK ARY PLACE, MAYOR Minutes prepared by Karen Roberts. An audio tape of this meeting is available in the City Clerk's Office 3